Boeing engineers have successfully demonstrated new technology that enables drones to function like a 'swarm of insects' where they can communicate and carry out tasks in mid-air.

In June, engineers and researchers from Johns Hopkins University tested their technology on two ScanEagle drones in Oregon, Boeing revealed.

The drone development could lead to lower costs and less risk in military welfare, Boeing said in a statement.

Swarm: Boeing engineers and researchers from Johns Hopkins University successfully tested their swarm technology on two ScanEagle drones in Oregon. Seen here is a ScanEagle

Using just a military radio and a laptop, an operator on the ground was able to connect with the autonomous drones instructing them to carry out a mission simultaneously.

'This swarm technology may one day enable warfighters in battle to request and receive time-critical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance information directly from airborne (unmanned aerial vehicles) much sooner than they can from ground control stations today,' Gabriel Santander, Boeing’s program director of advanced autonomous networks, said.

'Swarm network technology has the potential to offer more missions at less risk and lower operating costs,' the statement continues.

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Boeing revealed the 'swarm' technology at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International trade show, where robot makers gather to show off their wares.

The University of Pennsylvania GRASP Lab have also tested drone 'swarm' technology recently, showing off a network of 20 nano quadrotors flying in synchronized formations.

The SWARMS goal is to combine swarm technology with bio-inspired drones to operate 'with little or no direct human supervision' in 'dynamic, resource-constrained, adversarial environments,' the university said.

Drone developments: The 'swarm' development has the potential to offer more military missions at less risk and lower operating costs; seen here is a ShadowHawk drone with SWAT team members

Indeed, it is most likely the future of hard-to-detect drone surveillance will mimic nature.

Research suggests that the mechanics of insects can be reverse-engineered to design midget machines to scout battlefields and search for victims trapped in rubble.

Scientists have taken their inspiration from animals which have evolved over millennia to the perfect conditions for flight.

Nano-biomimicry MAV design has long been studied by the Department of Defence, and in 2008 the U.S. government's military research agency - DARPA - conducted a symposium discussing 'bugs, bots, borgs and bio-weapons.'

The same year, the US Air Force unveiled insect-sized spies 'as tiny as bumblebees' that could not be detected and would be able to fly into buildings to 'photograph, record, and even attack insurgents and terrorists.'

Around the same time the Air Force also unveiled what it called 'lethal mini-drones' based on Leonardo da Vinci's blueprints for his Ornithopter flying machine, and claimed they would be ready for roll out by 2015.